Panasonic DMP-BDT310 Blu-ray player

When it comes to raw performance in the mainstream Blu-ray market, Panasonic is a force to be reckoned with. The brand has consistently pushed the envelope in terms of picture quality. However, during 2010 it fell behind some of its high street rivals when it came to features and functionality. It's a situation Panasonic has …

[leon stok]

Serious question on audio quality

If you have a digital format audio format, with a 'quite well' documented decoding routine (PCM/AC3/DTS/DTS-MA) piped over a digital interface like HDMI.. how can sound differ between devices ?

You also don't compare PC quality by decoding a ZIP file and see which decodes it 'best'. It does it correct or it is broken.

So are you talking about analogue audio quality, or am I missing something completely here?

[Natalie Gritpants]

Sounds like junk

If you think that UI is razor sharp you must be a beardy. Transparency is bollocks as your screen grab shows, even the huge word "Thor" is hard to read and the visible bits of people confuse the UI. Making 2D into 3D on the fly is just stupid as your review shows, So it's a blu ray player - so what?

[Eddie Johnson]

Fails on Interfaces

HDMI may be leading edge with A/V jacks for the oldest backward compatibility but I'd like to see component video there too for a supposedly high end product.

I'd also like to see more coverage of the alternative media formats like DivX as there tend to be caveats in this area, eg what are the maximum DivX resolutions?

[Some Beggar]

Arithmetic

Could you explain the arithmetic behind this 80% and the 80% given to the Arcam box earlier in the week? This is a quarter of the price, has more up-to-date (if arguably silly) features, supports a broader range of formats, and has better image processing. Which magic beans is it missing? Have they foolishly given it an average consumer price tag?

[Mad Hacker]

Apples to Oranges

The Arcam includes an amplifier and doesn't play Blu-Rays. How can you compare the two?

[Some Beggar]

@Mad Hacker

I'm talking about the Arcam FMJ BDP100 Blu-ray Disc player. What are you talking about?

[Anonymous Coward]

Multi-region support

Multi-region support again lacking, so again NFI.

Also, does anyone else feel like we are back in the 80s with load times measured in minutes? I remember waiting 7 minutes for a game to load on my Commodore Vic-20, but seriously, a minute to load a dodgy graphic from an optical disk. What planet were the format designers on?

[Anonymous Coward]

How is nearly a minute to 'start' a disk

even slightly acceptable?

I've got an old Shuttle running Xubuntu as my media centre. It goes from cold to desktop in well under a minute. If I used XBMC as the shell it'd go from cold to playing any media I threw at it in under a minute.

I find it stunning that people are happy to accept an appliance taking that long to do the one thing its designed and built to do...

[defiler]

My thoughts exactly

Hacked AppleTV with XBMC on it. Boots in about a minute. After that, if I want a movie it starts in moments whether it's a DVD or a BluRay rip. All my discs are in the attic as well, keeping them away from little-people fingers. I don't understand why people are forced to wait so long on a bloody movie starting. It's like going back to the days of getting a video tape from the rental place and realising the previous lazy sod hadn't rewound it.

Except, with the VHS/Betamax you could at least wind past the crap at the start...

[Mad Hacker]

I'd like to see you review an Oppo Blu-Ray Player.

I'd like to see you review an Oppo Blu-Ray Player.

[Michael Ross]

Re: Multi-region support

The whole point of regions is to control the release timing of films. No major manufacturer is going to break their signed agreements by selling region-free players so get over it. As for load times, fair comment.

[Vladimir Plouzhnikov]

Re: Multi-region support

"so get over it"

Why should I?

[Some Beggar]

Re: re: wind, when the crowd says bo-selecta.

"Why should I?"

Because there is very little chance that it will change and worrying about it isn't good for your blood pressure or general happiness.

[Vladimir Plouzhnikov]

It it won't change

I won't buy it.

I spend reasonable amount of money on audio and video stuff but not a single penny on BD. And I am not worrying about it at all - let the shareholders worry.

[Some Beggar]

@Vladimir Plouzhnikov

So ... you have already gotten over it.